


Grapevines of Autumn

by greerwatson



Series: ITOWverse:  Autumn Holidays 2010 [2]
Category: RENAULT Mary - Works
Genre: Gen, ITOWverse, Metafiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-03
Updated: 2010-11-03
Packaged: 2018-05-27 14:47:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6288736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greerwatson/pseuds/greerwatson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The characters in Renault's books are concerned when they realize the Secretary is unhappy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grapevines of Autumn

Kalanos talked to Plato, and Lysis talked to Ralph; and Ralph mentioned it to Alec when his ship docked in Bridstow off convoy duty, in the few hours before the train—delayed by an air raid—left for London, where he had a week’s leave to spend with Laurie.  It was Alec who perused the two-day old copy of the _Renault Times_ for the reviews of the Spooky Challenge stories.  He wondered yet again what Ralph must have thought of **greerwatson** ’s raking up his expulsion:  events had demonstrated, all too obviously, that the old wound still ached.  He hadn’t asked; and, characteristically, Ralph had volunteered no comment.

Yes, there _was_ a brief mention of an ITOWverse story.  It was so short he’d missed it.  It was clear, though, that something must have happened.  Alec wondered if the brevity of the review might conceal an oblique tact.  After all, the Secretary was as eager a subscriber as any of the characters; and the reviewer might well wish not to distress her further by publicly analysing a fictional revelation of her private feelings.

When Sandy came in late from his shift, they had too few hours before Alec, in turn, had to leave for the hospital.  Nevertheless, he remembered to pass on the news and the paper.  Sandy thought about it as he put on the kettle.  Hallowe’en was a holiday of the north.  It had no emotional import to most of the Moderns, who were southern.  As a Scot, Sandy had vivid memories of guising.  His usual party piece had been a few steps of Highland dance; and, more than once, he’d heard the comment that he should be in kilt, not a rag-tag costume tacked together from hand-me-downs.  His mother had always made a huge batch of tablet, whose squares were divided among dozens of little folded home-made paper baskets.  Sandy would return with his bag filled with other mothers’ little pokes, along with apples and shortbread and bannock.

When he arrived in London, Ralph had other priorities; but eventually Kalanos’s tale—perhaps somewhat transformed in its journey—reached Laurie’s ears.  “We should do something,” he said to Ralph, stroking him gently in a sentimental afterglow.  “She does so much around the Clubhouse ... it seems a pity that she should be sad.  Some way of saying thank-you....”

“What do you suggest?”

“Something to remember from a happy childhood?  She sounds as though she had good memories.”

“So did you, I think,” Ralph murmured.  This inspired Laurie to offer compensation for a less than ideal youth.  Later, it occurred to neither of them to spend part of Ralph’s precious leave in any world but their own.

Perversely, therefore, it was Reg Barker who muddled through the article in the _Renault Times_ , and—puzzled by the fact that there seemed to be a story almost ignored by the reviewer—took a few minutes of his dinner break to disappear down a back lane and return…only seconds later, from the perspective of any workmate who might catch sight of him.  In the intervening half an hour at the Clubhouse, though, he had two cups of tea in the kitchen and heard all about it from Mrs. Hackett, who often made the Secretary’s dinner her personal responsibilty.  Indeed, Mrs H thus passed the news, not only back to her own book and over to _The Charioteer_ , but across the whole bookshelf.

Being discharged from hospital and the service did not mean that Reg had completely lost touch with his old friends, especially those who had also returned to civvy street.  He had fond memories of the autumn pastimes of his own boyhood; so had they.  Those in London met at his local, therefore, and put their heads together.  So did other characters, in other books, in other times.  They were all fond of the Secretary, and so were very pleased to have thought of a way to give her an unexpected treat to cheer her up.


End file.
